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July 02, 2009
Friday Flickers: Gun Crazy
By 1950, the Hollywood studio system was in steep decline. Television was flattening the landscape, and because stars were no longer under contract to the studios, the star system—invented by L.B. Mayer—was all but dead.
It was a bad time for American movies.
The last great film genre was also quickly fading.
Film noir, black or dark films, a post WWII phenomenon, was characterized by dark, urban landscapes where dangerous dames seduced cynical men into crime, betrayal, and death.
Gun Crazy, 1950, is one of the last, great noir movies.
But it doesn't fit neatly into the noir category because much of the story takes place in wide open rural spaces—which, to me, gives the film so much power. We don't expect noir in the mid-west.
John Dall plays Bart Tare, a young man who has always liked guns. He gets into a world of trouble when, as a kid, he breaks into a store to steal a six-shooter. Bart's friends explain to the judge that Bart likes gun, but he would never kill anything. He won't even kill an animal.
File away that last piece of information as the major set-up of the film.
For every movie set-up, you have to provide a payoff.
And the payoff in Gun Crazy is perfect.
No spoilers here, you must watch this film.
After getting out of the army, Bart attends a carnival where he meets sharpshooter, Annie Laurie Starr—“So beautiful, so dangerous...”— played by Welsh born Peggy Cummins—her voice is mesmerizing, like a finely-tuned musical instrument.
Annie and Bart engage in a sharp shooting contest. It's one of the most erotic sequences in movie history for the man and woman—gunslingers in heat—are doing a mating dance as they blast away.
Later, Bart sums up their relationship:
“We go together, Annie. I don't know why. Maybe like guns and ammunition go together.”
Annie and Bart end up on the road, broke, and Annie talks the reluctant Bart into committing a robbery:
"I told you I'm a bad girl, didn't ?"
Soon, Bart and Peggy are on a full throttle crime spree and the cops are closing in on the doomed couple.
The clip I've chosen is, to my mind, the greatest bank heist in movie history.
It's done in one take. Dall and Cummings, dressed in their carnival outfits, improvise dialog as they drive down the highway, enter a town—the scene was shot in Montrose, CA—and cruise to a stop outside the bank. Because the scene is shot in one take, in real time, the suspense is nearly unbearable.
Karen and I wish all our friends and relatives a miraculous Shabbat.
Have a wonderful July 4th weekend and keep in mind that freedom is never free.
And hey, Jewish Democrats have been hit, en masse, with a deadly ailment: Cognitive Dissonance.
Meanwhile, Barack Hussein Obama, has finally chosen sides in Iran. Want to to take a guess where The Dear Leader stands?
Pop Quiz: What's the difference between The Washington Post and a prostitute?
Answer: Nothing.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at July 2, 2009 04:31 PM
Comments
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What's the difference between The Washington Post and a prostitute?
The Washington Post will be dead much sooner?
Posted by: Michael Jennings at July 3, 2009 01:43 PM
What's the difference between The Washington Post and a prostitute?
A prostitute will at least kiss you and feign affection won't they?
Posted by: Bill Brandt at July 3, 2009 02:31 PM
Michael:
I actually believe that Obama will bail out the newspapers. I mean, Pravda was government supported, right?
Posted by: Robert J. Avrech ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.seraphicpress.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at July 3, 2009 03:20 PM
Bill:
I'll take your word for it:-)
Posted by: Robert J. Avrech at July 3, 2009 03:22 PM
Obama will not call it a bailout to the newspapers.
If he's honest he'll call it a fee for service.
Posted by: Johnny at July 3, 2009 07:04 PM
Robert: Unfortunately the federal government is going to have a debt crisis at some point in the next through years. Frivolous things such as subsidising newspapers (if they try it) won't survive that.
Posted by: Michael Jennings at July 4, 2009 06:25 AM
Dear Robert: I've been trying to decide what
DVD(s) to rent to see me through the fast on Thursday. Maybe GUN CRAZY?
Posted by: Miranda Rose Smith at July 5, 2009 04:08 AM
Johnny:
You say: ...if he's honest.
Now that's funny.
Posted by: Robert J. Avrech at July 6, 2009 12:56 PM
Michael:
You mean Obama's leading us into a debt crisis? No way. Haven't you heard, he's G-d.
Posted by: Robert J. Avrech at July 6, 2009 12:57 PM